John S. Carroll, 60,  has been editor and executive vice president of the Los Angeles Times since 2000 and vice president of Times Mirror since 1998.

Previously, he was editor of The Baltimore Sun and senior vice president of The Baltimore Sun Company for nine years. Prior to that he served as editor, vice president and executive vice president at the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Louis D. Boccardi, president and chief executive officer of Associated Press, has been elected chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board. His selection was announced by President George Rupp. Columbia University awards the annual prizes on the board's recommendation.

William Safire, who won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1978, has been a political columnist for the New York Times since 1973. Readers also know him for his New York Times Magazine column "On Language" upon which he has based 13 books. Previously, Safire served as a senior White House speech-writer for President Nixon.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., is the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities, chair of the Afro-American Studies Department and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University.

With 40 honorary degrees, Gates is a world-renowned scholar and teacher of African and African-American history and culture. He has authored seven books and written numerous essays and reviews on a broad range of African and African-American issues, including slavery, race, feminism, dialect and identity.

Paul Steiger is the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal and a vice president of Dow Jones & Company. The editors of the Wall Street Journal Online, the Wall Street Journal Europe and the Wall Street Journal Asia also report to him.

Mike Pride has been editor of the Concord Monitor since 1983. Prior to that, he served as its managing editor. Under his editorship the Monitor has won the New England Newspaper of the Year Award 19 times, as well as numerous national awards for excellence. The paper has been cited byTime magazine and the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the best papers in the country.

Richard Oppel has been editor of the Austin American-Statesman since 1995 and is responsible for news and editorial content.

After serving in the Marine Corps, he graduated from the University of South Florida and began his career with the Tampa Tribune. He worked for the Associated Press and the Detroit Free Press before becoming executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat in 1977, and then editor of the Charlotte Observer in 1978.